PHOTOGRAPHY BY BELLE MORIZIO
Recipes

Our Absolute Best Shrimp Recipes

From dumplings to curry to flame-licked satay, these are our favorite ways to cook the most versatile shellfish.

By SAVEUR Editors


Updated on August 10, 2022

The average American consumes roughly 15 pounds of fresh seafood each year—and a whopping third of that is shrimp. We just can’t get enough of the sweet, juicy crustaceans, whether they’re bobbing in a pot of gumbo, swaddled in a corn tortilla, or stir-fried with noodles in pad thai or lo mein. 

A weeknight pinch hitter, shrimp cooks in mere minutes. All that’s standing between you and a satisfying shellfish feast is some straightforward prep work—we’re partial to shelling, deveining, and doing a quick dry-brine—before diving into whatever recipe you’re craving. The following dishes, culled from decades of shrimp infatuation, are our absolute favorites.

In China, this combination of shrimp, scallops, and crab is a special-occasion dumpling filling. The clean flavor and meaty texture of the shellfish are unobscured by any filler. Get the recipe >

Flavored with wine and aromatics, this broth features red yuzu kosho, a Japanese condiment made from citrus, yuzu, and chiles. Get the recipe >

Heaps of ground spices and rich coconut cream make this surf-and-turf stew worthy of a banquet—even if it’s easy enough to whip up on a weeknight. Get the recipe >

Juicy spiced shrimp round out this refreshing salad of al dente buckwheat, quinoa, and citrus. Get the recipe >

Bittersweet satsuma, a citrus fruit native to Louisiana, brightens these pickled shrimp, which get extra oomph from Korean chile flakes. Get the recipe >

This funky and complex shrimp stir-fry owes its deep flavor to Cantonese-style XO sauce, an umami bomb made with dried shellfish and chiles. Get the recipe > 

Carrot juice is the secret ingredient in this refreshing shrimp salad dressed with warm, gingery white miso vinaigrette. Get the recipe >

This is paella like you’ve (probably) never seen it before—with sticky rice, coconut milk, and handfuls of chopped scallions. Get the recipe >

Creamy, tangy remoulade is the perfect foil for plump shrimp. Get the recipe >

This craveable pad thai recipe comes from Thai-food eminence Andy Ricker. He perfected it, so you don’t have to. Get the recipe >

Rundown is a coconut milk-based Jamaican stew popular throughout the Caribbean. In this reinterpretation, a stock of shrimp shells makes a bisque-like sauce that’s used to dress fresh pasta. Get the recipe >

When you can’t look at another plain avocado toast without yawning, make this Danish open-face sandwich crowned with chilled shrimp. Get the recipe >

The crunchy, spicy Chinatown staple is surprisingly easy to reproduce at home. Get the recipe >

“Some of my best memories of living in Baton Rouge or visiting my mother in New Orleans were walking into a friend's house to find a mess of still-steaming peel-and-eat shrimp,” says My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef author Kwame Onwuachi. “Smothered in house spice, sweetened with garlic, and silky with melted butter, they burst with flavor with every bite.” Get the recipe >

Ground candlenuts mellow out this spicy shrimp satay that hails from coastal Singapore. Get the recipe >

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